Sudiksha Konanki disappeared in March 2025 while on spring break in the Dominican Republic with friends.
Sudiksha previously attended the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She is now a junior in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is an Indian citizen and a permanent US resident. She lives with her family in Chantilly, Virginia.
Shekar Pendem, a neighbor and friend of Sudiksha’s family, described her as a kind and smart woman in the close-knit community.
“She was a brilliant student. She went to one of the great schools,” said Shekar who lived next to the Konanki family for more than 10 years. He said she has two younger siblings, who are twins.
Sudiksha is part of an Acapella group called Avaaz. They describe themselves as South Asian fusion.
On March 3, 2025, Sudiksha travelled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with five female friends for spring break.
Some info about the location:
Punta Cana, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, is located in the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, known for its beaches, resorts, and the Punta Cana International Airport, which is the busiest in the country.
In terms of crime, Numbeo’s Global Crime Index gives Punta Cana a score of 46.65 out of 100. That is middle-of-the-pack for world destinations, though it’s equivalent to the scores for Edmonton, Brooklyn, Stockholm, and Frankfurt, Germany.
It’s also good for the Caribbean, where most scores are in the 60s (high scores equal more crime).
In 2023, according to Statista, approximately 1.6 million American travelers went to Punta Cana, up 29% from the previous year. That number represented almost half of all tourism to the resort area.
DominicanToday.com reports that Punta Cana International Airport is projecting an 8% increase in traveler arrivals in 2025 – with nearly half of those coming from the U.S.
The Dominican Republic is classified as level 2 in the State Department’s four-tier travel advisory rubric, meaning travelers are advised to exercise “increased caution” traveling there. It warns that violent crime is a concern throughout the country.
According to NBC, Sudiskha and her friends were staying at the Riu Republica Resort.
Located on a heavenly beach, the Hotel Riu Republica – Adults Only is your perfect option for enjoying a lively holiday in Punta Cana. This adults-only hotel on the Arena Gorda beach is ideal for groups of friends, has free WiFi, a varied gastronomic offer and the best 24-hour All-Inclusive service.
The more than 1,300 rooms of the Hotel Riu Republica are distributed in three buildings. In all of them you’ll enjoy the best amenities, like satellite TV, air conditioning, a safe, a minibar and beverage dispensers, among many others. And, in the facilities of this adults-only hotel on the Arena Gorda beach, you’ll find eight swimming pools, some with swim-up bars or areas with water slides for you to experience a refreshing and fun-filled stay.
Sudiskha was last seen early on the morning of Thursday March 6, 2025 after she went to the beach with friends.
She made two payments via her Venmo to an unspecified user on the app on March 5, just hours before she disappeared.
The first transaction was made at 2.54pm to an unnamed ‘new user,’ and Sudiksha used a sailboat emoji to describe it.
The second was made at 3:38pm and the description was Coco Bongo, which is a renowned nightclub in Punta Cana.
Her friends decided to go back to their rooms at around 4.15am, but Sudiksha decided to stay with some people she had met on her trip. None of these people were from the University of Pittsburgh. One of the people with Sudiksha has been identified as Joshua Riibe (24), a St Cloud State student. Just to note, some reports say that Joshua is 22, but most say he is 24. According to Fox9, the others in the group went back to their hotel at around 6am, Joshua and Sudiksha remained on the beach. Joshua could be seen on CCTV going back to the hotel at around 9.55am. Sudiksha was not with him. He was barefoot by that time and was not wearing his shirt.
Sudiksha’s friends went on an excursion that day and did not realize that she was missing until around 4pm, when they raised the alarm.
When police initially questioned Joshua, he said they had been “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little,” according to a transcript of the interview obtained by NBC News. A wave crashed, taking them both “out to sea,” it quotes him saying. ‘I was getting tired. I realized she was getting tired of swimming too. I’ve been a lifeguard. I grabbed her and pulled her out. I held her under my arm and swam to get her out of the water,’ Joshua said. “I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” he said, telling investigators that he used to work as a lifeguard. He said he got out of the water, vomited, and then fell asleep on the sand. He said that he assumed Sudiksha had done the same and gone back to her hotel room which is why he was not alarmed.
“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer,” he said. “I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left.”
‘I felt really bad and tired. I laid down on a beach chair. I fell asleep because I couldn’t go far,’ Joshua said.
‘Then I woke up because of the sun and because mosquitoes were biting me. I went to my friend’s room to get my phone and then went back to my room to sleep.’
During questioning, Joshua was asked if Sudiksha was able to swim, if she made any gestures or cries in the sea, if he called the cops or told the hotel, if he had told his friends about what happened and was also asked how he felt about the situation.
To all of those questions, he said: ‘My lawyers advise me not to answer that question and I follow their advice’, before going silent.
According to FoX5DC, Joshua has given varying stories about what happened that night.
According to a leaked police transcript obtained by Fox News, Riibe initially claimed they were swept offshore by a strong wave, but he managed to bring Konanki back to land. He said he then last saw her walking away in knee-deep water toward her belongings.
In another version, Riibe reportedly said he fell ill and passed out on a beach chair while Konanki was still in the water.
National Police launched a search effort Friday morning, using drones, helicopters, divers, boats and canine units. No signs of blood or aggression were found at the beach, National Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira said.
Two months before Sudiksha disappeared, four European tourists drowned at the same resort. Their bodies were found within 48 hours.
Their bodies were recovered within 48 hours.
Sudiksha’s friends were due to fly back to the US that day, but they extended their trip to help search for her. The search effort was expanded Monday.
The hotel has said that access to the beach is always open and that there are security guards stationed around the area.
The investigation into Sudiksha’s disappearance is being led by Dominican police, the Dominican attorney general’s office, the FBI and a U.S. Embassy liaison. The U.S. Coast Guard is also involved.
National Police sent teams to monitor the beach overnight at least twice to watch how the water moves to see where a body would drift if someone drowned and to see where the waves crash.
A hotel spokesperson said red flags — which indicate “that the sea had a strong current and very high waves” — were flying when Sudiksha vanished.
Authorities have said they were looking into Sudiksha’s phone and text records and that she did not appear to have a history of excessive alcohol consumption.
The sheriff’s office said it filed for Interpol to issue a yellow notice, a worldwide police alert for a missing person, which will alert authorities if she travels to another country.
Sheriff Mike Chapman of Loudoun County, Virginia, where Sudiksha lives, sent detectives to the Dominican Republic as they work under the FBI’s guidance.
“Some of the information has been disjointed, inconsistent,” Sheriff Chapman said of the search so far.
On Friday March 14, 2025, Joshua’s passport was confiscated by Dominican authorities. Media outlets reached out to his legal representatives. An email saying that Joshua “has been confined to the hotel since the investigation began. He is permanently escorted by the police anywhere he goes. So no, he is not free to leave,” was sent in reply.
According to the Loudoun County Sheriff, Joshua is a person of interest in the case.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic said Thursday they do not use the term “person of interest” and that at this point, no one is considered a suspect.
On Sunday March 16, 2025, Joshua was seen on the beach where Sudiksha disappeared, along with his father and an attorney. He was seen pointing out at the sea. He told NBC “I’m just trying to help them out,” adding, “The ocean is a dangerous place.”
Joshua’s parents, Albert and Tina Riibe, have criticized the treatment of their son, saying he has been subjected to “irregular conditions” and repeated questioning without legal counsel or official translators for days.
“He has remained in his hotel room under police surveillance and has been repeatedly taken to the police station since March 6,” the family said in a statement through their attorneys.
“Above all, we wish to contribute to the search efforts,” they said. “Joshua is deeply dismayed by her disappearance and has fully cooperated from the very beginning.”
Searches are typically stood down after ten days but it could last for as long as six months in a scaled down capacity, Dominican media has reported.
On March 16, media reports stated that some of Sudiksha’s belongings had been found on a beach chair, near where she was last seen.
Sudiksha can be seen in the CCTV images with Joshua, wearing a white swimsuit cover-up. This was found on a chaise lounge on the beach. Her sandals were also near the same chair.
On March 17, Sudiksha’s parents wrote a letter, requesting that she be declared dead.
We have had lots of questions about why they requested this so quickly. This info is from CBS:
So what’s behind the parents asking authorities to declare their daughter dead? Is it a request for closure or for legal reasons? KDKA-TV asked Pittsburgh attorney Phil DiLucente.
“I think it was very clear this is what’s called a power play,” DiLucente said.
DiLucente believes this is a strategic move and wouldn’t be surprised if the parents’ legal counsel suggested it.
“They want to make sure that all the rescue and efforts and capital and all the money that is being put into this investigation that it just be focused on who did this to my child, not where is my child, not what happened as far as there being a potential rescue. So, the parents are very strategic,” he said.
Another reason to declare a missing person deceased includes processing a person’s estate, but the timing depends on the missing person’s home state.
“A lot of times it’s for insurance purposes, a lot of times it’s for estate, but as you know, she’s from Virginia, that’s a 7 year that has to pass before you can be declared deceased, same as Pennsylvania,” DiLucente said.
That means the state of Virginia’s code says 7 years need to pass before a missing person is presumed dead. It also states if a person disappears in a foreign country and the body is not found, then the Department of State can issue a report of presumptive death.
On March 18, Joshua appeared in court in the Dominican Republic. A judge granted his request for freedom. Joshua argued that Dominican authorities inappropriately detained him without charges and challenged their treatment of him.
“I really want to go home and see my family,” Joshua testified. “I understand I’m here to help but it’s been 10 days.” Joshua said he was “first detained on Saturday” and believed he was “going to go home that day.”
Joshua also spoke in court about meeting with Sudiksha’s mother. He said she hugged and thanked him for saving her daughter the first time. “I’ve done what I can but at this time there’s not much now that I can do,” Joshua said, adding: “I’m just waiting to go home and go back to my life.”
After the judge’s ruling, Joshua’s attorneys expressed “deep gratitude to the Dominican judiciary and all institutions involved in the Joshua Steven Riibe case for recognizing and upholding the rule of law and showing respect for his fundamental rights as a foreign citizen in the Dominican Republic.”
SOURCE LIST
https://www.fox9.com/news/sudiksha-konanki-missing-timeline-so-far
https://people.com/sudiksha-konankis-clothes-found-on-beach-chair-11697892
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/18/us/sudiksha-konanki-missing-student-punta-cana-tuesday/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/why-family-missing-college-student-declare-dead